Yes it takes a year to recover fully from this surgery. It is so invasive. At one year after treatment I got scar revision surgery. They did liposuct some extra fat out of my face so that it looked more symetrical to the side where they took out so much tissue. It looks alot better. I still have a big scar under my chin to my neck which I may get lasered down at some point.. Some of the scar revision was covered by insurance-- some of it was considered "cosmetic" and wasn't but at least some of it was.


So sorry to hear about your father in law. I hope he makes a full recovery
and at least with some time will feel comfortable around family and friends while he recovers.If people love you you they don't care what you look like. I understand how painful it is to go through this and have such an assualt to the face... Its really hard.
K

Palm tree I read your post but forgot to answer your question about Rad seed implants,, sorr about that.. Implants are done this way, They put you in a coma and then take you to the OR and go up thru your chin and make some holes in youe tongue. THen take you to radiology and Xray where the made to holes to make sure they are right. Then back to the OR where they put Radiation Seed Implants up thru thr holes and insert the Rad Seeds. Then you are put inside a lead shield , because you are radioactive and then put in Isolation and no one except A nurse checks on you for supposedly 3 days of the coma. After the 3 days you are taken to a room to wake and recover. I was out for 4 mot=re days and I guess they thought I was going to die. I was readied for an extended care facility for the 8th day but woke up on the 7th one. The implants and mt ongue give me more problems than any of the surgeries or biopsies 2 years later. I have no idea if it helps kill the Cancer, but I am alive and smiling thru it.

WOW jim that sounds really scary and intense. i am very impressed that you can speak of it so calmly! i dont know if he'll be going through that, currently hes just been having his rad treatments through the mask. but i guess we never know what is down the road. god bless you for getting through all of that.

Palm...I was told the same thing as what Kate described. At the one year point my docs will go back and fix things to make me more symetrical. Most important thing is to remove the cancer, all the rest is cosmetic and can be taken care of later.

Hope all is well with your FIL.

thanks guys...
so he had his last chemo treatment yesterday. He was supposed to have the final one next Monday, but he is losing his hearing in both ears-- because of the hearing loss he's experiencing, the doctor decided to stop with the chemo yesterday. he goes to an audiologist on Thursday for an evaluation. He still has 7 more radiation treatments. The surgeon told him after the last radiation treatment that he has to 'heal' before talking about reconstruction surgery. He was/is in alot of pain from the radiation/chemo and had the doctor prescribe a pain patch (fentanyl). It seems to help a bit. it makes me a little nervous that the stopped the chemo- did any of you experience something like this? hes been going for a total of 7 or 8 weeks now... do you think theres a chance they may resume the chemo later?

are they just cutting one chemo out but he is still going ahead with radiation?

yes thats correct. hes been doing 5 rads, 1 chemo each week for the past 7 weeks. they are cutting out next week's chemo session but he still has 7 more rads.

correct me if i am wrong but they normally do chemo with radiation. i dont think he will have to "make-up" one chemo.
in andys case, he did 3 rounds of chemo, then 35 rads/1 wk chemo. he was scheduled for 40 rads but due to complications, had to give him a break. he is scheduled to resume both in 4 weeks.